Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1942)

Motion Picture Daily Wednesday, January 7, 1942 Second Largest Day Audience Hears FDR President Roosevelt, in addressing the 77th Congress yesterday, spoke to his second largest daytime radio audience, it was estimated by the Cooperative Analysis of Broadcasting. CAB announced that on the basis of a nationwide survey, it was found that 52 per cent of the nation's set owners interviewed at home heard the President deliver his address on the state of the Union. The speech was broadcast from 12:30 to 1:10 P.M. over all major networks. Although the audience was large for daytime, the President has had more listeners on four recent occasions, it was stated. 13 Vaudeville Units On Circuit of U.S.O. To Open on Jan. 9 (Continued from page 1) ing 65 camps and stations on the Red, White and Blue Circuit. The vaudeville shows will open as follows : Jan. 9 at Fort Wadsworth, N. Y. ; Charlotte Air Base, Charlotte, N. C. ; Jan. 10, Fort Slocum, New Rochelle, N. Y.; Jan. 12, Fort Stevens, Astoria, Ore. ; Fort Clark, Texas ; Gardner Field, Taft, Cal. ; Langley Field, Va. ; Fort Dawes, Boston ; Chanute Field, 111. ; Jan. 13, Cochran Field, Macon, Ga. ; Bangor Air Base, Bangor, Me. ; Jan. 15, Goodfellow Field, San Angelo, Texas ; Jan. 16, Fort Robinson, Crawford, Neb. Dismiss Three from III. Clearance Case Chicago, Jan. 6. — Paramount, MG-M, Warners and Balaban & Katz have been dismissed from the arbitration clearance complaint of the Don Theatre, Downers Grove, 111., by agreement of the parties. The case, hearings on which were concluded today before Thomas C. McConnell, arbitrator, is being continued against KKO and 20th Centurv-Fox. To Train Staffs of Rochester Houses Rochester, Jan. 6. — Local theatre managers have been urged to train their staffs in wartime emergencies. The plea came from city fire and defense officials. Emergency duties were discussed by Battalion Chief Frank Gallagher at a meeting with representatives of the 13 local Schine houses. Beery to Premiere Wallace Beery, who stars in M-G-M's "The Bugle Sounds," is expected to attend the premiere of the picture at the Loew's, Louisville, on Jan. 14, the company announced yesterday. He will also visit Fort Knox. Off the Antenna C^ECIL B. DeMILLE, producer of "Lux Radio Theatre," yesterday pre-J sented two scrolls to Bob Hope during the latter's Pepsodent show over NBC-Red. The scrolls wrere awarded to Hope for being voted Champion of Champions and Best Comedian in the annual "Champion of Champions" radio poll conducted by Motion Picture Daily on behalf of Fame. • • • Purely Personal: Arthur Van Horn and Prcscott Robinson, WOR newscasters, have been added to the staff of Dave Driscoll, the station's director of special features and news. . . . Edward Tomlinson will cover the forthcoming Pan American Conference for NBC-Blue. . . . Frank J. Cuhel has been named Mutual correspondent in Batavia. . . . Lynn Farnol will be guest of Ilka Chase over NBC-Red Saturday at noon. . . . Otis P. Williams, WOR account executive, set a new record at the station by selling over a half million dollars of business in 11 months. . . . Richard Cook has joined the WHN sales staff. • • • New and renewal business at WNEW during the month of December set an all-time high for that month, it was reported yesterday. Contracts were signed with 21 sponsors for a total of 1,849 quarter-hour periods. 52 half-hour periods and 5,468 spot announcements. Most of the contracts are for 52-week periods, it was said, and 20 of the 21 sponsors are national advertisers. • • • WMFG, Hibbing, Minn., and WHLB, Virginia, Minn., owned by Head of Lakes Broadcasting Co., have joined NBC as supplementary outlets for the Red and Blue, it was announced yesterday. They will be available free to sponsors using WEBC, Duluth, until April 8, but thereafter the basic rate will be $140 for WEBC alone and $160 for the three stations. Both WMFG and WHLB operate on unlimited time with 250 watts. • • • Program News: Two nezv accounts and four rcnezvals for NBC-Red were signed yesterday. Libbey-Owens-Ford Glass Co. will sponsor a war news program over 37 stations Saturdays', 5:45-6 P.M., beginning Jan. 17. "Family Party," an institutional variety show, will be sponsored by General Mills Saturdays, 10-10:30 A.M., beginning this week. Philip Morris renezved "Johnny Presents" over 98 stations; B. T. Babbitt renezved "David Harum" and added Seven stations for a total of 52; Sterling Products has renezved "Battle of the Sexes" over 57 stations, and CBC has renezved its contract for "Kraft Music Hall." . . . Philip Morris has added eight stations to the CBS hookup for "Johnny Presents" and six stations for "Crime Doctor." . .. . Bulova Watch Co. lias renezved its yearly contract for 10 daily time amnouncements seven days weekly over WABC. • • • Madison Square Garden inter-collegiate basketball games, of which the final 15 minutes were broadcast formerly by CBS, will be heard exclusively over W71NY, the WOR FM station, beginning tonight. The final 15 minutes will be carried by Mutual over its standard broadcast network. Stan Lomax will handle the play-by-play description. • • • Spot sales have mounted recently for WMAQ and WENR, Chicago NBC stations, it was disclosed yesterday. Schulze Baking Co. ordered 998 announcements over WMAQ and 500 over WENR during a 50-week period. American Cigarette & Cigar Co. contracted for 106 one-minute announcements over WMAQ during a six-week period and Beech Nut Packing Co. bought 78 announcements on the same station during a 13-week period. Royal to Handle Rio Parley Broadcasts John F. Royal, NBC vice-president in charge of international relations, will head a delegation of the network's short wave staff to Rio de Janeiro to handle coverage of the Pan-American Conference scheduled to be held there Jan. 15, it was announced yesterday. Eli B. Canel, head of NBC's Spanish section, will accompany Royal. All sessions of the conference will be covered and, whenever possible, eye witness accounts will be broadcast, it was said. Royal also stated he would take advantage of the opportunity to consolidate and enlarge NBC's PanAmerican network, which now consists of more than 100 stations. Para. Signs Joel McCrea Hollywood, Jan. 6. — Paramount has closed a deal with Joel McCrea for the actor to make two pictures annually during the next two years, with options for a third picture each year. Settle Contract Suit Against Warners A stipulation settling the $75,000 breach of contract suit brought by Alvin R. Harnes and Howard A. Gray against Warners and Vitagraph was filed in Federal District Court yesterday. The amount of the settlement was not disclosed. The plaintiffs claimed that they entered into contracts in 1936 and 1937 with the defendants whereby the latter were to pay for a plan to dramatize the life of Dr. Ehrlich. According to the complaint, the film, "Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet," contained all the features of the plan but no compensation had been paid. Cut Price for Soldiers Indianapolis, Jan. 6. — The Cantor circuit of neighborhood houses has reduced prices for men in uniform. Admission to service men is 17 cents at the Emerson, Rivoli, Sheridan and Esquire and 11 cents at the Parker. Power's Pact Extended Hollywood, Jan. 6. — Twentieth Century-Fox has extended the contract of Tyrone Power for two years. Showmanship Flashes Metro Has New Promotion On Outstanding Shorts The M-G-M advertising and publicity department, headed by Howard Dietz, has prepared a new type of short subject promotional service, called the M-G-M Shorts File, will go by mail to all accounts, n will be issued periodically — perhap" or 20 during the year — on shorts considered worthy of special merchandising attention. The files will contain special exploitation suggestions, publicity stories, ad lines and reproductions of available accessories. The first file is on "The Tell-Tale Heart." Scene mats are to be furnished gratis on request. service. ■* I High School Ticket Stunt Plugs 'Started with Eve' Lebanon, Pa., Jan. 6. — A stunt with high school students helped Manager Jack Weber of the Colonial Theatre to plug "It Started With Eve." He distributed 500 numbered tickets to high school boys and the same number of corresponding tickets, to girls. When a boy found a girl with the same number as his both zvere admitted free to see the picture. W. B. Sends Out Items To Plug Sales Drive The Warner advertising and publicity department has prepared promotional material on the Vitagraph Drive, annual sales drive now under way, and running until next April. The items include a large mechanical pencil, a coat-hanger and a calendar, all designed to indicate sales drive effort. Elaborate Pressbook for 'Valley' from 20th-Fox An unusually large and complete pressbook has been turned out for "How Green Was My Valley" by the 20th Century-Fox advertising and publicity department under the direction of A. M. Botsford. The book contains 44 pages in three sections, with an index on publicity material, listing the stories by subject matter. There is a 16-page ad section and an eight-page exploitation section prepared by the Hal Home organization. Shows London Film to Frisco Raid Wardens San Francisco, Jan. 6. — Manager Bucky Williams of the Newsreel Theatre showed "The Warning," British Government short of an actual raid on London, at a citywide mass meeting of nearly 10,000 air raid wardens here. The film was used by Police Chief Charles Dullea and Army authorities to indicate the best means of warning against, and combating, an air raid. > > ■ Humor for Rumor Perkasie, Pa., Jan. 6. — An institutional campaign has been introduced here by Bernard Haines, manager of the Plaza. The slogan of Haines' drive is "Replace Rumor With Humor — Go to the Movies.